Nintendo UK speaks about Super Mario 3D World and Zelda: A Link Between Worlds’ critical reception
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 1 Comment
Super Mario 3D World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds sat very well with critics. The two are among the highest-rated titles of 2013.
While speaking with MCV, Nintendo UK marketing boss Shelly Pearce commented on the critical reception of both titles. Pearce said:
“The latest adventures in two of our most loved franchises, Mario and The Legend of Zelda, have achieved 10/10 review scores in mainstream and specialist media and have been credited as ‘must-have titles’ as well as reasons to purchase hardware. We look forward to hearing more from the fans.”
Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS Guides: Louvre now live
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Nintendo has published a new Iwata Asks focusing on Nintendo 3DS Guides: Louvre. You can find the full discussion here. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto both participated in the discussion.
Dinosaur Planet was originally planned as a Diddy Kong Racing/adventure game hybrid
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
Rare was originally developing Dinosaur Planet for the N64. However, the project was cancelled, and ultimately saw a complete transformation. The final game ended up as Star Fox Adventures for the GameCube.
Former Rare staffer Phil Tossell spoke about what the studio initially had in store for Dinosaur Planet while speaking with Retro Gamer this month. Tossell revealed that the project “was supposed to be a hybrid of Diddy Kong Racing and an adventure game.”
“Actually, it was supposed to be a hybrid of Diddy Kong Racing and an adventure game. Every level would have some kind of track in it and a race as part of the story. It took a while to settle down…”
One reason why Dinosaur Planet turned into a Star Fox title was because of Shigeru Miyamoto’s feeling that some of the characters between the two were similar in appearance. To say the least, Rare welcomed the opportunity to work on one of Nintendo’s legendary franchises.
“It seemed like a no-brainer. They’re offering this great character from this great franchise! I was attached to Dinosaur Planet but I love the original Star Fox. Our only concerns were how we could fit it into this game we have.”
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Video: Nintendo’s Coaster Crazy Deluxe developer interview
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 3 Comments
More: Coaster Crazy Deluxe, indie, interview
Masahiro Sakurai on Smash Bros. development, workload, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 7 Comments
Masahiro Sakurai published yet another column in this week’s Famitsu. Sakurai talked all about working on the new Smash Bros., games including his workload, schedule, living arrangements, and more. You can find a roundup of Sakurai’s quotes, courtesy of Polygon’s translations.
More: Famitsu, interview, Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros., top
ZombiU and Fire Emblem devs talk about working with perma-death in story-writing
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 1 Comment
In the latest issue of EDGE magazine there lays a feature about the inclusion of permanent death in a game– that is, when a character dies, they’re gone for good and you can’t do anything about it. Two notable examples of games that utilize permanent death (perma-death) have come within the last year or deux: ZombiU from Ubisoft on the Wii U and Fire Emblem: Awakening on 3DS from Nintendo. A designer from both games sat down with EDGE to discuss their experience with perma-death:
I think that all of the Fire Emblem games are fun, but a lot of beginner players stay clear of them because they think they are difficult. I think this is a real shame. A big reason for wanting to include this mode was so that those kinds of people could play Fire Emblem too…Since your characters come back when they die, one advantage is that you can play more aggressively or take more risks.
– Fire Emblem: Awakening director Kohei Maeda
[Writing ZombiU] was the toughest challenge I’ve faced in over ten years of writing for games. It took… the whole production team to find solutions for all the ‘But what happens if you die here?’ issues, which were sometimes mind-bendingly complicated.
I created the Prepper character and the survivors’ notes to establish a link and reinforce between the survivors who all fall under this mysterious character’s influence. Without a main player character, you need to embrace your main NPCs. Our character assemblage system produced avatars that were less gorgeous than a single player character would’ve been.
– ZombiU design director Gabrielle Shrager
More: Fire Emblem, Gabrielle Shrager, interview, Kohei Maeda, ZombiU
Detune working on new 3DS title, details are “top secret”
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments
Detune recently put up KORG M01D on the 3DS eShop. That’s not the only piece of software the company intends to bring to Nintendo’s portable.
Speaking with Nintendo Life, Detune’s Nobuyoshi Sano confirmed the existence of a brand new title, of which details are “top secret”. While Sano wouldn’t share any specifics, he did say that it has something to do with sound.
Sano commented:
Yes! We have yet to really get started, but yes we do have something planned! The details of the software are top secret, but I can say one thing — Detune will be making it, which means it will be something that has to do with sound. And we plan to make full use of the 3DS display! Stay tuned!
More: Detune, interview, Nobuyoshi Sano, top
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World summary – including Galaxy talk
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 1 Comment
I’ve thrown together a summary of the Super Mario 3D World Iwata Asks, as the original discussion is quite long. There are definitely a number of interesting points, plus some talk about the future of the Super Mario Galaxy series. Without further ado, here’s the summary in full:
– No upending the tea table from Miyamoto this time
– Miyamoto “only needed to be involved with occasional spot-checks in areas where I wanted to take a closer look”
– Hayashida: “To be upfront about it, ever since we started developing Super Mario 3D Land, we thought about making Super Mario 3D World in continuation afterward.”
– The team originally wanted to include a multiplayer mode in Super Mario 3D Land
– Team initially started out at 40-50, was at about 100 at the end
– The team has tons of ideas for Mario’s transformations
– Cat transformation forms a pair with Statue Mario
– When you turn into Cat Mario under a certain condition, he can make bonus coins appear with Ground Pounds
– Moving multiple Marios was considered before, but wasn’t tried since the team thought it’d be too taxing from a control perspective
– Double Mario came about when a staffer made a mistake with the placement tool and put in two Mario players
– NOA staffers said Mario 3D World has a high replay value
– Free Camera Mode is in single-player mode only
– Captain Toad’s Adventure was put in so that players ” would try it out as a way to experience a game in which you control the camera yourself as you would in a 3D Super Mario game.”
– Motokura insisted on putting in the secret character
– This character loses its ability when in cat form
– This character also becomes a black cat when transformed
– The Luigi Bros. game and the secret character appear after reaching the end once
– Luigi Bros. appears on the title screen
– If you have New Super Luigi U data, you can play from the start
– Hidden Luigi pixels are included in the game
– Random button randomly assigns characters before each course
– Can do a Ground Pound to steal someone’s double power
– Random selection is also available in single-player
– Hayashida on the stamps: “We had always wanted to do something with Miiverse, and I tried posting, but the world is full of people who can draw well. I can’t draw, so I couldn’t get into it.”
– Over 80 stamps are in the game
– Some stamps you get deep in the second half
– Mii characters of other people online show up as Sprixies
– When you clear a course, the ghost of the person who cleared it will replay through that gameplay
– Time Attack Ghost will appear, which is the ghost of another player who’s clear time is just a little faster than yours
– The team had a strong desire to call it “3D World” from the beginning
– Miyamoto realized “Land” was for handhelds and “World” was for home consoles
– Miyamoto: “Some opinions against it arose along the way, and there was a time when it looked like it wouldn’t fly, but it’s a name with a lot of thought behind it that suggests anyone can feel easy playing the game and that it’s a culmination of all the fun of a 3D Super Mario game, so the name had to be Super Mario 3D World, and in the end that’s what it is.”
– Koizumi says he had some regrets about some things when making Super Mario Galaxy, which he feels he was able to address with 3D World
– Koizumi has long wanted Luigi to appear alongside Mario in a 3D game, and also felt Galaxy was more geared toward boys
– With Peach’s inclusion, he feels this has been addressed
– Miyamoto: “Just so there is no misunderstanding, I should point out that this doesn’t mean we’ll never make another Super Mario Galaxy game.”
– Koizumi: “When we first started making Super Mario 3D World, Miyamoto-san asked me if this was going to be more like Super Mario Galaxy or more like Super Mario 3D Land. When we made Super Mario 3D Land, we had our eyes on the form of this game, so we made it this way without any hesitation.”
– Miyamoto: “The same team can’t make both at the same time. And we can’t bring in a second party and slap the name Super Mario Galaxy on it. I suppose we could idealistically make both in Tokyo, but we want to do something new too, so there was that dilemma.”
– Miyamoto “Personally, I would like to take on a variety of new challenges with Super Mario Galaxy and design 2D Super Mario games in an easy-to-understand way within certain restraints.
– Iwata: “Either way, to fans of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World is in no way a different beast that they won’t be able to enjoy.”
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D World now live
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo has gone live with a new Iwata Asks for Super Mario 3D World. You can find the full discussion here. Prepare yourself for seven page of talk between Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and the game’s developers!
More: interview, Iwata Asks, Satoru Iwata, Super Mario 3D World, top
Aonuma talks about his views on Miyamoto, wants him to continue sharing opinions
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments
Eiji Aonuma has a special relationship with Shigeru Miyamoto. After all, the two have been working together for a couple of decades.
Aonuma shared some of his thoughts concerning Miyamoto in GamesTM’s previous issue. Surprisingly, Aonuma revealed, “The time I have spent working with him is even longer than my relationship with my father”. Aonuma also mentioned that he feels he’s “far away from reaching Mr. Miyamoto’s level of perspective” and hopes Miyamoto will “forever” continue providing opinions on Nintendo’s titles.
